prowling jungle beast. Rather was it the blue-green glow of
phosphorescent witch-light that flickers and dances in the night mists
above steaming tropical swamps.

The stranger's face was as classically perfect in its rugged outline
as that of a Roman war-god, yet those perfect features seemed utterly
lifeless. In the twenty minutes that he had been intently watching the
stranger, Gordon would have sworn that the other's face had not moved
by so much as the twitch of an eye-lash.

* * * * *

Then a new couple entered the Maori Hut, and Gordon promptly forgot
all thought of the puzzlingly alien figure in the corner. The new
arrivals were a vibrantly beautiful blond girl and a plump,
sallow-faced man in the early forties. The girl was Leah Keith,
Hollywood's latest screen sensation. The man was Dave Redding, her
director.

A waiter seated Leah and her escort in a booth directly across the
room from that of Gordon. It was a maneuver for which Gordon had
tipped lavishly when he first came to the Hut.

A week ago Leah Keith's engagement to Blair Gordon had been abruptly
ended by a trivial little quarrel that two volatile temperaments had
fanned into flames which apparently made reconciliation impossible. A
miserably lonely week had finally ended in Gordon's present trip to
the Maori Hut. He knew that Leah often came there, and he had an
overwhelming longing to at least see her again, even though his pride
forced him to remain unseen.

Now, as he stared glumly at Leah through the palms that effectively
screened his own booth, Gordon heartily regretted that he had ever
come. The sight of Leah's clear fresh beauty merely made him realize
what a fool he had been to let that ridiculous little quarrel come
between them.

Then, with a sudden tingling thrill, Gordon realized that he was not
the only one in the room who was interested in Leah and her escort.

Over in the half-darkened corner booth the eery stranger was staring
at the girl with an intentness that made his weird eyes glow like
miniature pools of shimmering blue-green fire. Again Gordon felt that
vague impression of dread, as though he were in the presence of
something utterly alien to all human experience.

* * * * *

Gordon turned his gaze back to Leah, then caught his breath sharply in
sudden amaze. The necklace about Leah's throat was beginning to glow
with the same uncanny blue-green light t